Resistance variable memory elements, which include Programmable Conductive Random Access Memory (PCRAM) elements, have been investigated for suitability as semi-volatile and non-volatile random access memory devices. In a typical PCRAM device, the resistance of a chalcogenide glass backbone can be programmed to stable lower conductivity (i.e., higher resistance) and higher conductivity (i.e., lower resistance) states. An unprogrammed PCRAM device is normally in a lower conductivity, higher resistance state.
A conditioning operation forms a conducting channel of a metal-chalcogenide in the PCRAM device, which supports a conductive pathway for altering the conductivity/resistivity state of the device. The conducting channel remains in the glass backbone even after the device is erased. After the conditioning operation, a write operation will program the PCRAM device to a higher conductivity state, in which metal ions accumulate along the conducting channel(s). The PCRAM device may be read by applying a voltage of a lesser magnitude than required to program it; the current or resistance across the memory device is sensed as higher or lower to define the logic “one” and “zero” states. The PCRAM may be erased by applying a reverse voltage (opposite bias) relative to the write voltage, which disrupts the conductive pathway, but typically leaves the conducting channel intact. In this way, such a device can function as a variable resistance memory having at least two conductivity states, which can define two respective logic states, i.e., at least a bit of data.
One exemplary PCRAM device uses a germanium selenide (i.e., GexSe100−x) chalcogenide glass as a backbone. The germanium selenide glass has, in the prior art, incorporated silver (Ag) by (photo or thermal) doping or co-deposition. Other exemplary PCRAM devices have done away with such doping or co-deposition by incorporating a metal-chalcogenide material as a layer of silver selenide (e.g., Ag2Se), silver sulfide (AgS), or tin selenide (SnSe) in combination with a metal layer, proximate a chalcogenide glass layer, which during conditioning of the PCRAM provides material to form a conducting channel and a conductive pathway in the glass backbone.
Extensive research has been conducted to determine suitable materials and stoichiometries thereof for the glass backbone in PCRAM devices. Germanium selenide having a stoichiometry of about Ge40Se60, as opposed to Ge23Se77 or Ge30Se70, for example, has been found to function well for this purpose. A glass backbone of Ge40Se60, with an accompanying metal-chalcogenide (e.g., typically silver selenide) layer, enables a conducting channel to be formed in the glass backbone during conditioning, which can thereafter be programmed to form a conductive pathway. The metal-chalcogenide is incorporated into chalcogenide glass layer at the conditioning step. Specifically, the conditioning step comprises applying a potential (about 0.20 V) across the memory element structure of the device such that metal-chalcogenide material is incorporated into the chalcogenide glass layer, thereby forming a conducting channel within the chalcogenide glass layer. It is theorized that Ag2Se is incorporated onto the glass backbone at Ge—Ge sites via new Ge—Se bonds, which allows silver (Ag) migration into and out of the conducting channel during programming. Movement of metal (e.g., typically silver) ions into or out of the conducting channel during subsequent programming and erasing forms or dissolves a conductive pathway along the conducting channel, which causes a detectable conductivity (or resistance) change across the memory device.
It has been determined that Ge40Se60 works well as the glass backbone in a PCRAM device because this stoichiometry makes for a glass that is rigid and incorporates thermodynamically unstable germanium-germanium (Ge—Ge) bonds. The presence of another species, such as silver selenide provided from an accompanying layer, can, in the presence of an applied potential, break the Ge—Ge bonds and bond with the previously homopolar bonded Ge to form conducting channels. These characteristics make this “40/60” stoichiometry optimal when using a germanium selenide chalcogenide glass with respect to the formation of a conducting channel and conductive pathway.
While germanium-chalcogenide (e.g., Ge40Se60) glass layers are highly desirable for PCRAM devices, other glasses may be desirable to improve switching properties or thermal limitations of the devices.